Getting to know ‘Stadium Rock”
Started as early as the 1960s and peaked in the 1980s, stadium rock is not a genre; it is an epic style of music performance played by musically diverse bands from Led Zeppelin to the Police. Performed live in stadiums or arenas, it is characterized by mass audiences and various stage features, such as laser light, large video screen, smoke bomb and heavy amplification as well as shocking pyrotechnics that never failed to awe the audiences.
In 1960s, the number of fans of popular bands such as the Beatles, Led Zeppelin, The Who and Rolling stone had outgrown the capacity of standard concert hall and nightclubs. They needed bigger venue to do live performances, so they used stadium or arena as a solution. In its development, stadium rock became some kind of fashion with every band tried to do the task of performing to huge size of crowd.
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Queen, Springsteen and several other bands helped popularize stadium rock throughout 1970s until early 1980s. Stadium rocks events during this era was a major social and media event. In the early 1990s, these larger-than-life bands started to loose its popularity due to drug abuse and along with that, public interest in stadium rock concerts started to wane either. Ticket sales significantly dropped off. There ended the glorious era of stadium rock. It is true that certain modern bands still able to fill entire seat in an arena but the atmosphere is no longer the same.
In the old-time stadium rock, the music was specifically written to allow the audience to become one with the band. The music needs to be heard and felt by thousands and unite them in massive togetherness. This thing is seldom found in modern day music performance. When a band fails to engage a stadium, the show can be dull.
The Greatest Stadium Rock in History
Whilst many bands with their huge live performance had showed their quality in shaping the world of stadium rock, in my opinion, these are greatest:
The Beatles, Shea Stadium, New York, 15th August 1965
Out of necessity, the Beatles was the first band in history that performed in a stadium and unintentionally invented stadium rock. Shea Stadium, the home of New York Mets baseball team housed around 55,000 hysterical fans of the Beatles on 15th August 1965. With primitive sound system, the scream of “Beatlemania” was even louder than the band. The music was barely audible, even the Beatles themselves couldn’t hear what they were playing, but the fans wouldn’t mind anyway, as they didn’t really go the concert to hear the music. The sound system was not the only thing that went wrong that day. Security control didn’t work either as crowd broke the security and charged towards the stage.
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Queen, Hyde Park Concert, UK, 18th September 1976
Performing to more than 150,000 people, Queen really presented the best stadium rock show ever. The show began with ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ and the legendary Freddie Mercury burst onto stage with his notable costume. For security reason, the police threatened to arrest Freddie if he went back on stage for an encore.
Formed in 1970 by Brian May, Freddie Mercury and Roger Taylor with John Deacon joining the following year, Queen played seminal rock music. They are recognized for their vocal harmonies and ability to bring thousands of audiences to participate in their live performances. The anthem song “We Will Rock You” could induce everyone to stomp feet and clap hands in unison. Massive choruses from the audiences really blew the whole stadium. The song allows the audiences to become one with the band. No band can built interaction with the audience the way that Queen did.
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Kiss, Destroyer Tour, Anaheim Stadium, August 20, 1976
Destroyer Tour was Kiss’ first stadium tour. It was a success. The band performed to over 50,000 people in Anaheim stadium, the largest US crowd the band had ever played to. In 1983, Kiss had another tour in Brazil and performed to around 200,000 people, but the show in Anaheim Stadium went down in history as Kiss’ most memorable performance.
Formed in 1973, in the city of New York, Kiss is easily identified by their face paint and unique stage outfit. Their live performance usually featured blood spitting, smoking guitars, fire breathing and off course pyrotechnics.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqP7fh2VgpY]
Led Zeppelin, USA Tour 4th & 5th May 1973 & Knebworth House 4th & 11th August 1979
Formed in 1968, Led Zeppelin, an English rock band was the hard rock and heavy metal pioneer. The band was the most successful group that had broken the Beatles’ stadium rock attendance record. In Atlanta Braves’ Stadium Led Zeppelin pulling in 49,000 fans and in Tampa, Florida, the number of attendance reached 57,000. Seven years after the US tour, the band returned to the UK and made other performances in Knebworth House in 1979. The two concerts were seen by around 200,000 to 400,000 in total. The show in UK was quite modern with the use of big screen technology.
It is the band’s musical genius and creativity that had brought Led Zeppelin to its success. Zeppelin’s style of eclectic mix set a fundamental bench mark of modern bands. Led Zeppelin can be considered as the most influential rock band of all time.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-RWdCBCplU]
The Police, Shea Stadium, 18th August 1983
This was the biggest concert in Shea Stadium after the Beatles’ performance in 1965. Not only was the stadium seat, the playing field also filled up with fanatic fans of the band. More than 65,000 tickets sold out within very short time. At that time the band had already taken advantage of technology by using bigger sound system and huge video screens. The songs differed greatly from songs usually played for stadium rock audiences. The music was lighter, not aggressive, not stomping and cleverer. It changed radically people’s perception of stadium rock
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYnNACRxIMM]
Bruce Springsteen, Born in the USA Tour 1984/1985
Started in Minnesota on 29th June 1984 and ended in Los Angeles in October 1985, Springsteen played out to sold out stadium sized venues around the world. Born in the USA Tour was made to support Born in the USA album that had maintained number 1 position in the Billboard 200 during the entire duration of the tour. Playing to tens of thousand audiences at a time, it was Springsteen’s most successful tour to date. The concerts really showed his capability in controlling crowd and bring vast audience together into a massive sing-along package.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-X3kZErPCg]
Dire Straits, Brother in Arm Tour, 1985-1986
Following the massive success of the album, the tour covered 248 shows in over 100 cities in 23 countries including 21 consecutive appearances in the UK in December 1985. In two-year span, the tour sold three million tickets around the world. The Tour began in Split, Croatia on April 1985 and ended in Sydney Australia on April 1986.
Live Aid, Wembley Stadium, London & JFK Stadium, Philadelphia, 13 July 1985
Broadcast live on TV and radio to more than 1.5 billion viewer in 160 countries, Live Aid was the biggest single rock event in history. The show brought together world’s biggest rock and pop stars. Among those great artists are The Who, Dire Straits, U2, Queen, The Rolling Stones, Black Sabbath, and Led Zeppelin. Bob Geldof and Midge Ure organized this show to raise money for Ethiopian’s famine relief. The performance began at Wembley Stadium, London and continued in JFK Stadium, Philadelphia for 16 hours non-stop. The event raised more than 0 million and set trend for huge charity gigs.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTLgiROX5f8]
David Bowie, Glass Spider Tour, 1987
The tour started in 1987 in Stadion Feijenoord, Rotterdam in support of the album Never Let Me Down. The show was seen by three million people. Five dancers appeared on stage. Besides dancing, Bowie and the dancers performed dialogue in the middle of the song, giving it a theatrical effect. The band also wore more than one set specially designed costumes. It was the first show in history that combined rock with choreography and theatre.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JISvzR4-7iA]
Rolling Stone, Steel Wheels Tour, 1989-1990
The Steel Wheels Tour changed people’s perception of Stadium Rock concert as cheap entertainment. First time in rock concert history, the ticket was expensive. Started in Philadelphia to promote the Steel Wheel album, the show was extravagant with futuristic colossal stage designed partly by Mick Jagger. It was a huge success financially, taking almost 0 million in US and Canada. In 1990 the show moved to Japan in February and Europe in May.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B25giXromnk]
U2, Zoo TV Tour, 1992/93
U2’s first stadium performance was in the Joshua Tree Tour in 1987 during which the band played numerous stadium and arena shows. The show was a success with tickets sold out all around the world. U2 played second stadium tour, the Zoo TV Tour, few years later and this was a huge success. Zoo TV Tour is the most memorable U2 stadium rock performance.
This ambitious tour which began in Florida in 1992 showcased
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